The present invention relates generally to welding-type devices, and more specifically, to an apparatus and system for wirelessly identifying, locating, and/or monitoring the status of remote welding-type devices located at a job site or in storage.
As is well known in the industry, welding-type equipment can be employed in a large variety of vastly differing work sites. For example, such equipment is used in environments like small or large workshops, factories, warehouses, distribution locations, construction sites, and expansive manufacturing yards such as ship building yards. The number of welding-type devices in use can range from one to several thousand, and can include any combination of welders, plasma cutters, induction heaters, and the like, all at one site. Furthermore, the materials, accessories, maintenance equipment, workpieces, and other equipment incident to welding-type processes can render a work environment cluttered and disorganized. Manufacturing yards and warehouses, in particular, are work sites in which thousands of welding machines, feeders, other welding-type equipment, consumables, and accessories are present and/or in use at one time.
Additionally, when welding-type equipment and consumables are not in use, they may often be stored in several different designated places, be left sitting at a particular work space, or simply be returned to the wrong storage location. Manufacturing yards typically have multiple buildings in which welding-type equipment is stored, used, lost, and stolen on a daily basis. Further, it may be that multiple welding-type devices appear substantially identical, especially containers of consumables. Therefore, it becomes difficult and time-consuming to locate desired welding-type equipment or the proper consumables at large work sites and storage facilities. The time spent looking for a particular device or consumable, determining which individual last used the device, etc., can detract from the efficiency of an overall construction or manufacturing project.
Furthermore, welding-type consumables are often time-sensitive. For example, some types of consumable welding wire should ideally not be left sitting for excessive periods of time before use. Corrosion, warp, and other well-known conditions may develop if welding wire containers are lost, forgotten, or otherwise not properly tracked. Similar disadvantages may occur when other welding-type devices and consumables are idle for prolonged periods of time.
Also, in situations where numerous welding-type devices are used, these devices may end up scattered across vast worksites, and thus become difficult to track or locate. The occurrence of theft thus increases. This can be particularly problematic for inverter-based welders and other lighter systems, as well as for consumable containers. Also, as a result of the vast size of ship building yards and other similar manufacturing sites, welding-type equipment may frequently be taken from the work site through various gates, unknown to and unauthorized by an owner. As such, when a work environment is disorganized and equipment and consumables are difficult to locate, an item could be missing for several days before an owner becomes aware that the item was stolen rather than merely misplaced or lost.
Welding-type devices also require periodic scheduled and unscheduled maintenance. Thus, maintenance personnel must be notified of new maintenance issues, the nature of the issues, the location of the device, and any helpful operating or maintenance history information to properly address the issues. In addition, maintenance records must be kept for each device, and maintenance personnel must be notified or otherwise keep track of when a scheduled maintenance task becomes due. Such scheduled maintenance tasks may include cleaning of various components, oiling of the device, replacement of regularly worn parts, or manually uploading system software upgrades or patches. Sometimes the same repair is needed on multiple machines and the time it takes to find the machines can actually exceed the time to do the repair or upgrade. If a maintenance crew cannot locate a device in a timely manner, a scheduled or unscheduled maintenance issue may go unresolved and lead to damage to the device.
Other drawbacks of existing welding-type device inventory systems arise from the procedures by which device-specific information is kept. For example, records of the operations in which a device has been used, which operation a welding-type device is currently assigned to, which individuals have used a device, which individual is currently using a device, and when a device will next be available are often kept in a log book or database by a facilities or tools department. Details of the maintenance tasks that have been performed on a device and schedules of when preventive maintenance should be performed may be kept in logs or databases by the facilities or tools department, or by a maintenance department. Further, it is not uncommon for operator notes, technician notes, and known issues with equipment to be maintained by a variety of persons or departments within a firm. Typically, an operator's manual is minimally used to record past and future maintenance as well as operator notes, etc.
Manuals, log books, and other media are also not always easily locatable. These types of records could be kept at a number of locations, including with the device itself. Understandably, this does not aid in alerting owners or maintenance personnel of upcoming maintenance tasks. Additionally, a maintenance worker on a job site may not always remember to log information into a book or database when he or she returns to the department, or may find the recording of such information unnecessary. Furthermore, when these types of records are needed on site, they are not always easily located or available.
It would therefore be desirable to have a system for easily locating and keeping inventory of welding-type devices, accessories, and consumables in storage or in use at a job site or storage facility. Furthermore, it would also be desirable if such system was also capable of providing information and notifications regarding past use and maintenance, current usage, scheduled preventive maintenance, dates of purchase or receipt, and/or operator notes. It would also be desirable to monitor locations, real-time operations, interoperability, and/or current inventory of a device, machine, consumable material, or accessory remotely.